3)Minutes of March 6, 2012:Jurado
motioned, Metevia seconded to receive minutes of the
meeting of March 6, 2012. Motion passed 8-0.

4)Call to Audience:None

5)Chemical City Band proposal to rename the Ted
Nicholson Band Shell: Duane Townley, member of
the Chemical City Band’s board of directors, presented a proposal to rename the
band shell the Nicholson-Guenther Community Band Shell in honor of two
long-time directors of the Chemical City Band, and to also recognize the
community nature of the venue.Jurado
motioned, and Bovid seconded the motion to recommend that the City Council
approve the name change.The motion
passed 7-1.

6)Neighborhood park playground review and public
input: Murphy gave an overview of
the neighborhood park review process to date, and indicated that 21 parks have
been identified by staff as having equipment that should be removed.The purpose of the review is to determine
which parks warrant replacement equipment based on public input and staff
recommendations, as well as to determine a priority for replacing equipment and
establishing fall protection zones.Once
staff has this recommendation in hand, a 3-5 year replacement schedule will be
developed for those impacted parks to be implemented as funding allows.Approximately 550 property owners living
adjacent to the identified parks have or will receive a letter outlining the
process and requesting their input.Half
of these residents were invited to give input at the May meeting and the other
half will be invited to the June meeting.

Six residents offered input at the meeting as
follows: Two residents spoke in support of retaining equipment at Greenfield
Park with particular interest in keeping equipment for use by older children;
two residents spoke in support of keeping the existing equipment at Shipps Park; and two residents spoke in support of
replacement equipment at Lowell Park.Murphy also reported receiving 17 responses from residents via telephone
and email communication as follows:Two
resident in favor of keeping equipment in Greenfield Park; two residents in
favor of keeping equipment in Lowell Park and one resident in favor of removing
that equipment; four residents in favor of keeping the equipment at Shipps Family Park; two residents in favor of keeping the
equipment at St. Mary’s Park and one resident in favor of removing that
equipment; four residents in favor of keeping the equipment at Sunset Park; and
one resident in favor of replacing the equipment at Wyndemere
Park.

Public input will again be received at the
June commission meeting.After all input
is received, Murphy will compile the results and provide the commission with a
revised staff recommendation that takes into account the input received.

7)Midland Softball Association donation for drainage
improvements at Redcoats:Marcie
Post presented a donation from the Midland Softball Association to improve
drainage adjacent to the restroom building and playground area at the Redcoats
Complex.This is the last piece of
drainage improvements currently needed to remedy wet areas at the
facility.Steidemann
motioned to accept this generous improvement to Redcoats.Carney seconded the motion and the motion passes
8-0.

Post also recognized the Midland Girls Softball
League for a recent volunteer work day at Optimist Park in conjunction with the
Delta College Grappling Club.Projects
included restoration work to the park sign, spreading of playground mulch and staining
of the dugouts.

8)Project Updates:

a.Fun Zone staining-Murphy reported that bids have been
received for restaining of the Fun Zone.The initial intent was to stain the Fun Zone
in late spring/early summer.However, in
order to honor all pavilion rentals at Plymouth A for people intending to use
the Fun Zone as an activity at their event, the staining will occur in
mid-September.

b.Arbor Day tree planting event – Murphy discussed
the recognition of Arbor Day as a pre-requisite to qualifying for the Tree City
USA status that the city has earned the past 16 years.As part of the recognition, the City holds a
tree planting event annually.This
year’s event was held at Siebert Elementary school where city staff helped a
group of 4th and 5th grade students plant a tree in front
of the school.

c.General parks opening update- Murphy reported that all park restroom facilities are
now open, including Thrune Park.Staff is in the process of hiring the
temporary labor crew for the season.

9)Old Business:None

10)New
Business:Altimore
encouraged the commissioners to visit the neighborhood parks involved in the
playground review.Steidemann
invited people to join the Horseshoe Club at Emerson Park on Thursday evenings
at 6:00 p.m.